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MikeDunnAuthorToday in History, March 14, 1879, Albert Einstein was born. In addition to being one of the most significant physicists of all time, he was also a pacifist. Yet his letter to President Roosevelt warning of the Nazi progress on atomic weapons research was arguably key to the U.S. implementation of the Manhatton Project, a decision he later lamented. In 1955, well after the Cold War and nuclear arms race had begun, he and ten other intellectuals and scientists, including other Nobel Prize laureates, like Bertrand Russell and Linus Pauling, wrote a manifesto warning of the dangers of nuclear weapons. Einstein also participated in the U.S. Civil Rights movement, calling racism America’s “worst disease.” Later in his life he began to support socialism, and he criticized the Bolsheviks for their barbarism. Einstein was also a Zionist, and supported Jews’ right to return to Palestine. However, he did not support a Jewish state, or an Arab state, to replace Mandatory Palestine. Rather, he wanted a free, bi-national Palestine in which Jews and Arabs shared sovereignty, living peacefully and equally with each other.<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/einstein" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#einstein</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/nazis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#nazis</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pacifism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#pacifism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/antisemitism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#antisemitism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/zionism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#zionism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/palestine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#palestine</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/israel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#israel</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/physics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#physics</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/atomicbomb" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#atomicbomb</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/nuclear" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#nuclear</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/socialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#socialism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/civilrights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#civilrights</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/racism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#racism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/nobelprize" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#nobelprize</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday in Labor History March 9, 1879: Anarchist militant and IWW organizer, Carlo Tresca, was born. Tresca was an outspoken opponent of fascism in Germany and Italy, and of Soviet Communism. He was one of the main organizers of the Patterson Silk Strike. He was assassinated in 1943 by an unknown assailant, presumably a fascist or the Mafia. Some believe the Soviets killed him in retaliation for his criticism of Stalin. The most recent research suggests it was the Bonanno crime family, in response to his criticism of the mafia and Mussolini.<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IWW" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#IWW</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/union" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#union</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/strike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#strike</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/anarchism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#anarchism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/communism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#communism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/paterson" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#paterson</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mafia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mafia</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/stalin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#stalin</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/soviet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#soviet</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fascism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mussolini" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mussolini</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday in Labor History March 9, 1902: Actor Will Geer was born. Best known for his role as Grandpa Walton in the long-running series, “The Waltons,” Geer also appeared in the groundbreaking film, “Salt of the Earth,” which portrayed the struggle of Mexican American workers at the Empire Zinc Mine. Because of his activism on labor and political issues, he was blacklisted in Hollywood for many years. In 1934, he became a member of the Communist Party. He also met LGBTQ activist Harry Hay that year and they became lovers. Together, they supported the 1934 San Francisco General Strike and demonstrated against fascism and for workers’ rights. Hay was a co-founder of the Mattachine Society, the first major gay rights group in the United States, and the Radical Faeries, an anarcho-pagan queer spiritual-political movement.<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/communism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#communism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/lgbtq" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#lgbtq</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/sanfrancisco" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#sanfrancisco</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/generalstrike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#generalstrike</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/antifascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#antifascism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/blacklist" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#blacklist</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/radicalfaeries" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#radicalfaeries</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/anarchism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#anarchism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pagan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#pagan</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mattachine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mattachine</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday in Labor History March 9, 1841: The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that freed the remaining 35 survivors of the Amistad mutiny. In 1839, Portuguese slave traders had illegally transported 52 Mende people from west Africa to Cuba, on the Amistad, in violation of European treaties against the slave trade. Joseph Cinque led his fellow captive Africans in a mutiny, killing the cook and captain, and forcing the remaining crew to return them to Africa. The crew tricked them and sailed up the Atlantic coast, presuming they would be intercepted by the U.S. Navy, which captured the ship near Montauk, Long Island. President Martin Van Buren wanted to send the prisoners back to Spanish authorities in Cuba to stand trial for mutiny. However, the Court recognized the mutineers’ rights as free citizens. Abolitionists raised funds for the mutineers’ defense. Former President John Quincy Adams, who opposed slavery, represented them in court.<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/slavery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#slavery</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/amistad" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#amistad</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/cinque" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#cinque</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mutiny" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mutiny</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SCOTUS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SCOTUS</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/abolition" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#abolition</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/johnquincyadams" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#johnquincyadams</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BlackMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BlackMastodon</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday in Labor History March 8, 1857: Women garment workers picketed in New York City, demanding a 10-hour workday, better working conditions, and equal rights for women. In 1910, German socialist Clara Zetkin proposed to the Second International, that March 8 be celebrated as International Women’s Day to commemorate this strike.<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/internationalwomensday" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#internationalwomensday</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/strike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#strike</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/feminism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#feminism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/sexism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#sexism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IWW" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#IWW</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EqualPay" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EqualPay</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EqualRights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EqualRights</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GenderEquality" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#GenderEquality</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/iwd" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#iwd</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/socialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#socialism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/womenshistorymonth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#womenshistorymonth</a>

MikeDunnAuthor“What I want is for every dirty, lousy tramp to arm himself with a revolver or knife on the steps of the palaces of the rich and stab or shoot their owners as they come out.” This was what Lucy Parsons, then in her 80’s, told a crowd at a May Day rally in Chicago, at the height of the Great Depression. The way folk singer Utah Phillips tells the story, she was the image of everybody’s grandmother, prim and proper, face creased with age, tiny voice, hair tied back in a bun. She died in Chicago, Illinois, on this date in Labor History, March 7, 1942.Little is known about Lucy Parson’s early life, but various records indicate that she was born to an enslaved African American woman, in Virginia, sometime around 1848-1851. She may also have had indigenous and Mexican ancestry. Some documents record her name as Lucia Gonzalez. In 1863, her family moved to Waco, Texas. There, as a teenager, she married a freedman named Oliver Benton. But she later married Albert Parsons, a former Confederate officer from Waco, who had become a radical Republican after the war. He worked for the Waco Spectator, which criticized the Klan and demanded sociopolitical equality for African Americans. Albert was shot in the leg and threatened with lynching for helping African Americans register to vote. It is unclear whether her initial marriage was ever dissolved, and likely that her second marriage was more of a common-law arrangement, considering the anti-miscegenation laws that existed then.In 1873, Lucy and Albert moved to Chicago to get away from the racist violence and threats of the KKK. There, they became members of the socialist International Workingmen's Association, and the Knights of Labor, a radical labor union that organized all workers, regardless of race or gender. They had two children in the 1870s, one of whom died from illness at the age of eight. Lucy worked as a seamstress. Albert worked as a printer for the Chicago Times. These were incredibly difficult times for workers. The Long Depression had just begun, one of the worst, and longest, depressions in U.S. history. Jobs were scarce and wages were low. Additionally, bosses were exploiting the Contract Labor Law of 1864 to bring in immigrant workers who they could pay even less than native-born workers.In 1877, Lucy and Albert Parsons helped organize protests and strikes in Chicago during the Great Upheaval. The police violence against the workers there was intense. One journalist wrote, “The sound of clubs falling on skulls was sickening for the first minute, until one grew accustomed to it. A rioter dropped at every whack, it seemed, for the ground was covered with them.” During the Battle of the Viaduct (July 25, 1877), the police slaughtered thirty workers and injured over one hundred. Albert was fired from his job and blacklisted, because of his revolutionary street corner speeches.After the Great Upheaval, they both moved away from electoral politics and began to support more radical anarchist activism. Lucy condoned political violence, self-defense against racial violence, and class struggle against religion. Along with Lizzie Swank, and others, she helped found the Chicago Working Women's Union (WWU), which encouraged women workers to unionize and promoted the eight-hour workday. During the late 1870s and early 1880s, she wrote numerous articles, including "Our Civilization, Is it Worth Saving?" and "The Factory Child. Their Wrongs Portrayed and Their Rescue Demanded." In 1884, she helped edit the radical newspaper The Alarm. She wrote an article for that paper, "To Tramps, the Unemployed, the Disinherited and Miserable," which sold of over 100,000 copies. In that article, she advocated using violence against the bosses. In 1885, she published "Dynamite! The only voice the oppressors of the people can understand," in the Denver Labor Enquirer. During this period, Lucy gave numerous fiery speeches on the shores of Lake Michigan. Hundreds of people routinely attended. Mother Jones thought her speeches advocated too much violence. The Chicago Police Department called her “more dangerous than 1,000 rioters.”On May 1, 1886, 350,000 workers went on strike across the U.S. to demand the eight-hour workday. In Chicago, Albert and Lucy led a peaceful demonstration of 80,000 people down Michigan Avenue. It was the world’s first May Day/International Workers’ Day demonstration—an event that has been celebrated ever since, by nearly every country in the world, except for the U.S. Two days later, another anarchist, August Spies, addressed striking workers at the McCormick Reaper factory. Chicago Police and Pinkertons attacked the crowd, killing at least one person. On May 4, anarchists organized a demonstration at Haymarket Square to protest that police violence. The police ordered the protesters to disperse. Somebody threw a bomb, which killed at least one cop. The police opened fire, killing another seven workers. Six police also died, likely from “friendly fire” by other cops. The authorities, in their outrage, went on a witch hunt, rounding up most of the city’s leading anarchists and radical labor leaders, including Albert Parsons and August Spies. Lucy toured the country, giving speeches and distributing literature about the men’s innocence. Everywhere she went, she was greeted by police, often being barred entrance to the meeting halls where she was scheduled to speak. She was also arrested numerous times. Despite her efforts, and those of other activists fighting to free the Haymarket anarchists, seven were ultimately convicted of killing the cops, even though none of them were present at Haymarket Square when the bomb was thrown. Four were executed, in 1887, including Albert Parsons. On the morning of his execution, Lucy brought their children to see him for the last time, but she was arrested and taken to the Chicago Avenue police station, where they strip-searched her for explosives. Albert’s casket was later brought to Lucy’s sewing shop, where over 10,000 people came to pay their respects. 15,000 people attended his funeral. Several years later, the governor of Illinois pardoned all seven men, determining that neither the police, nor the Pinkertons, who testified against them, were reliable witnesses.After her husband’s execution, Lucy continued her radical organizing, writing, and speeches. In October 1888, she visited London, where she met with the anarchists Peter Kropotkin and William Morris. In the 1890s, she edited and wrote for the newspaper Freedom, A Revolutionary Anarchist-Communist Monthly. In 1892, Alexander Berkman (an anarchist comrade and lover of Emma Goldman) attempted to assassinate the industrialist Henry Clay Frick, for his role in the slaughter of striking steel workers, during the Homestead Strike. Lucy published the following in Freedom: "For our part we have only the greatest admiration for a hero like Berkman." In 1905, Lucy cofounded the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), along with Mother Jones, Big Bill Haywood, Eugene Debs, James Connolly, and others. The IWW was, and still is, a revolutionary union, seeking not only better working conditions in the here and now, but the complete abolition of capitalism. The preamble to their constitution states, “The working class and the employing class have nothing in common.” They advocate the General Strike and sabotage as two of many means to these ends. At the founding meeting of the IWW, Lucy said that women were the slaves of slaves. “We are exploited more ruthlessly than men. Whenever wages are to be reduced the capitalist class use women to reduce them.” She called on the new union to fight for gender equality and to assess underpaid women lower union dues. She also started advocating for nonviolent protest, telling workers that instead of walking off the job, and starving, they should strike, but remain at their worksites, taking control of their bosses’ machinery and property. This was years before Gandhi started leading Indians in nonviolent protest. Read my entire biography of her here: <a href="https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/</a>“When the prison, stake or scaffold can no longer silence the voice of the protesting minority, progress moves on a step, but not until then.” –Lucy Parsons<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/lucyparsons" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#lucyparsons</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IWW" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#IWW</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/haymarket" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#haymarket</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/anarchism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#anarchism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/communism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#communism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/racism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#racism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/womenshistorymonth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#womenshistorymonth</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/rebellion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#rebellion</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/8HourDay" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#8HourDay</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/eighthourday" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#eighthourday</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/motherjones" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#motherjones</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/eugenedebs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#eugenedebs</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/execution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#execution</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/bigbillhaywood" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#bigbillhaywood</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/union" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#union</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/scottsboro" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#scottsboro</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/chicago" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#chicago</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/waco" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#waco</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/texas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#texas</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/slavery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#slavery</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/civilwar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#civilwar</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/africanamerican" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#africanamerican</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BlackMastadon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BlackMastadon</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday in Labor History March 5 1968: The first Chicano student walkout in East Lost Angeles occurred on this date. The Walkouts, or Chicano Blowouts, occurred throughout 1968 in protest of unequal conditions in Los Angeles Unified School District high schools. Chicanos were often in classes of 40 students. Teachers often treated them with contempt. Drop-out rates were high. At Garfield High School, 58% of Chicano students dropped out each year. Thousands of students participated in the Blowouts. On March 4, 1968, J. Edgar Hoover sent out a memo to law enforcement, nationwide, warning them to be extra vigilant against “nationalist” movements in “minority” communities. Harry Gamboa Jr., one of the organizers of the first walkout, was placed on the list of 100 Most Dangerous & Violent Subversives, by the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, along with Angela Davis & Eldridge Cleaver.<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/laraza" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#laraza</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/blowouts" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#blowouts</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/chicano" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#chicano</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/angeladavis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#angeladavis</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/racism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#racism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/dropout" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#dropout</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/students" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#students</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/fbi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fbi</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/la" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#la</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/losangeles" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#losangeles</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/police" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#police</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/policebrutality" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#policebrutality</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/blackpanthers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#blackpanthers</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/protest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#protest</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/fbi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fbi</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/jedgarhoover" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#jedgarhoover</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/launified" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#launified</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/highschool" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#highschool</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday in Labor History February 26, 1941: 14,000 workers struck at Bethlehem Steel’s Lackawanna mill in Buffalo, New York. As a defense contractor, the company had $1.5 billion worth of armament orders, but refused to pay the minimum wage mandated for government contracts. Furthermore, they had recently fired 1,000 workers, blaming their last work stoppage for damaging some coke ovens. The pickets effectively stopped scabs from getting in. After less than 2 days, the company agreed to rehire the fired men and began talks on a raise and union recognition. However, a month later, they reneged.<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/strike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#strike</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/bethlehem" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#bethlehem</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/steel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#steel</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/minimumwage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#minimumwage</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/scab" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#scab</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/wwii" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#wwii</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/newyork" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#newyork</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/buffalo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#buffalo</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/union" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#union</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/wages" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#wages</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday in Labor History February 21, 1965: Malcolm X, who was assassinated in the Audubon Ballroom, New York City.<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/blackhistorymonth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#blackhistorymonth</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/malcolmx" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#malcolmx</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/assassination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#assassination</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BlackMastadon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BlackMastadon</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday in honor of Black History Month, we remember Frederick Douglass, who died on this date, February 20, 1895. In an 1857 address Douglass said, "If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." After escaping slavery, Douglass became a national leader of the abolition movement. He also supported the women’s suffrage movement and ran for vice president as running mate to Victoria Woodhull on the Equal Rights Party ticket. In addition to being a brilliant orator, writer and social justice activist, Douglass was also the single most photographed man of the 19th century. He sat for over 160 portraits, always taking a dignified pose. He considered photography a tool for creating a positive image of black men. (Check out the graphic novel about Frederick Douglass by comic book artist extraordinaire, David Walker).<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/slavery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#slavery</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/abolition" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#abolition</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/freedom" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#freedom</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FrederickDouglass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#FrederickDouglass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/blackhistorymonth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#blackhistorymonth</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#photography</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/books" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#books</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/graphicnovel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#graphicnovel</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#author</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/write" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#write</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BlackMastadon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BlackMastadon</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday in Labor History February 19, 1948: Joe Ettor died on this date. Ettor was an IWW union organizer, who helped spearhead the Lawrence Bread & Roses Strike of 1912. "If the workers of the world want to win, all they have to do is recognize their own solidarity. They have nothing to do but fold their arms and the world will stop. The workers are more powerful with their hands in their pockets than all the property of the capitalists. As long as the workers keep their hands in their pockets, the capitalists cannot put theirs there. With passive resistance, with the workers absolutely refusing to move, lying absolutely silent, they are more powerful than all the weapons and instruments that the other side has for attack." Ettor was active in the 1907 Portland lumber strike, the 1909 McKees Rocks Strike, the Pennsylvania coal strike of 1909-10, and a Brooklyn shoe factory strike in 1910-11.Employers feared "Ettorism". This 1913 anti-union cartoon from The American Employer depicts an IWW organizing drive as "a volcano of hate stirred into active eruption at Akron, by alien hands, which pour into the crater the disturbing acids and alkalis of greed, class hatred and anarchy. From the mouth of the pit rise poisonous clouds of suspicion, malice and envy to pollute the air, while from the cracked and breaking sides of the groaning mountain flow streams of lava of murder, anarchy and destruction, threatening to engulf in their path the fair cities and fertile farms of Ohio." By American Employer Pub. Co. (A.S. Van Duzer, editor) - The American employer, Volumes 1-2, American Employer Pub. Co., Chamber of Commerce Building, Cleveland, Ohio, May, 1913, page 595 (A monthly magazine devoted to the interests of the businessmen of the United States and Canada who hire labor), Public Domain, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27063708" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27063708</a><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/joeettor" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#joeettor</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IWW" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#IWW</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/union" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#union</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/strike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#strike</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GeneralStrike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#GeneralStrike</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/solidarity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#solidarity</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/sabotage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#sabotage</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BreadAndRoses" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BreadAndRoses</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/lawrence" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#lawrence</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/solidarity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#solidarity</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/capitalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#capitalism</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday, for Black History Month, we honor the memory of Mary Fields (c. 1832–12/5/1914), also known as Stagecoach Mary, an American mail carrier who was the first Black woman to be employed as a star route postwoman in the United States. She was born into slavery. After emancipation, she worked as a chambermaid on a steamship, and as a household servant. In 1895, at the age of sixty, she got a job as a Star Route Carrier, which used a stagecoach to deliver mail in the harsh weather and rocky terrain of Montana. She carried multiple firearms, most notably a .38 Smith & Wesson under her apron to protect herself and the mail from wolves, thieves and bandits. She never missed a day, and her reliability earned her the nickname "Stagecoach Mary." When the snow was too deep for horses, she delivered the mail on snowshoes, carrying the sacks on her shoulders.<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/stagecoachmary" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#stagecoachmary</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/maryfields" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#maryfields</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/slavery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#slavery</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/blackhistorymonth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#blackhistorymonth</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BlackMastadon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BlackMastadon</a>

marqle<a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/TIL" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#TIL</a> that in the <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/USA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#USA</a> the common or <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/garden" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#garden</a> pickled <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/gherkin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#gherkin</a> is referred to as a <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/cornochon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#cornochon</a>.Who knew <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/food" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#food</a> needed a name change before it's served to the <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/middleclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#middleclass</a> customer 😬

Sage 🇵🇸 🇱🇧 🇺🇦 🇿🇦 🇨🇺 🍉The mass layoffs of federal workers and tech workers is most likely going to lead to a 2008 recession or Great Depression. <a href="https://mas.to/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/workersdeservebetter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workersdeservebetter</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/workersarehumans" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workersarehumans</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/marxism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#marxism</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/socialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#socialism</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/revolution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#revolution</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/socialistrevolution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#socialistrevolution</a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/laborrights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#laborrights</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday in Labor History February 14, 1779: Indigenous Hawaiians killed Captain James Cook near Kealakekua, on the Big Island of Hawaii after Cook attempted to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief (aliʻi nui) of the island of Hawaii.. The site is near the modern town of Captain Cook. <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/indigenous" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#indigenous</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/hawaii" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#hawaii</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#colonialism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/genocide" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#genocide</a>

Geriatric Gardener“Video: hacker group Anonymous warns Trump of systemic attacks, calls for mass uprising v fascism”by Skwawkbox <a href="https://mastodon.social/@skwawkbox" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@skwawkbox</a> “Group says Trump’s and Musk’s open fascism and attacks on state organs is ‘testing the waters’ for all-out control and the enslavement of the working class”<a href="https://skwawkbox.org/2025/02/11/video-hacker-group-anonymous-warns-trump-of-systemic-attacks-calls-for-mass-uprising-v-fascism/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://skwawkbox.org/2025/02/11/video-hacker-group-anonymous-warns-trump-of-systemic-attacks-calls-for-mass-uprising-v-fascism/</a><a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Press" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Press</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/US" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#US</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Trump</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Fascism</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Anonymous" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Anonymous</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Hacking" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Hacking</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Attack" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Attack</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Enslavement" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Enslavement</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/WorkingClass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WorkingClass</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday, in honor of Black History Month, we remember Nat Turner, who led one of the only effective, sustained slave revolt in U.S. history (in 1831). They killed over 50 people, mostly whites, but the authorities put down the rebellion after a few days. Turner survived in hiding for several months. The militia and racist mobs, in turn, slaughtered up to 120 free and enslaved black people, and the state executed another 56, and severely punished dozens of non-slaves in the frenzy that followed the uprising. Turner’s revolt set off a new wave of oppressive legislation by whites, prohibiting the education, movement and assembly of enslaved and free blacks, alike. After his conviction, he was beheaded and flayed, to deter future rebels. His skin was used to make souvenir purses and his skeleton was used as a medical specimen. In the 1960s, there was funk-soul band Nat Turner Rebellion. Tupac Shakur had a cross tattoo on his back, "EXODUS 1831", in reference to the year Turner led the rebellion<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/slavery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#slavery</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NatTurner" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#NatTurner</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/rebellion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#rebellion</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/uprising" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#uprising</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/revolt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#revolt</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/racism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#racism</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/blackhistorymonth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#blackhistorymonth</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BlackMastadon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BlackMastadon</a>

Oriol Piera<a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/Feixisme" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Feixisme</a> <a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/Racisme" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Racisme</a> <a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/Classisme" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Classisme</a> <a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/Capitalisme" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Capitalisme</a> <a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/ClasseTreballadora" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ClasseTreballadora</a> <a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/GuerraDeClasses" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#GuerraDeClasses</a> <a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/DivideixIVencer%C3%A0s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DivideixIVenceràs</a><a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/Fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Fascism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/Racism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Racism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/Clasism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Clasism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/Capitalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Capitalism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/WorkingClass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WorkingClass</a> <a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/ClassWar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ClassWar</a> <a href="https://mastodon.economiasocial.org/tags/DivideAndConquer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DivideAndConquer</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday in Labor History February 6, 1919: The Seattle General Strike began. 65,000 workers participated. Longshoremen, trolley operators and bartenders also participated. The strike began in response to government sanctioned wage cuts. Both the AF of L and the IWW participated. During the strike, the workers formed councils, which took over virtually all major city services, including food distribution and security. They also continued garbage collection. Laundry workers continued to handle hospital laundry. And firefighters remained on duty. They established a system of food distribution, which provided 30,000 meals each day. Any exemption to the work stoppage had to be ok’d by the General Strike Committee. Army veterans created an independent police force to maintain order. The Labor War Veteran's Guard prohibited the use of force and didn’t carry weapons. The regular police made no arrests in any actions related to the strike. Overall, arrests dropped to less than half their normal number. A pamphlet that was distributed during the strike said, “You are doomed to wage slavery till you die unless you wake up, realize that you and the boss have nothing in common, that the employing class must be overthrown, and that you, the workers, must take over the control of your jobs, and through them, the control over your lives instead of offering yourself up to the masters as a sacrifice six days a week, so that they may coin profits out of your sweat and toil."The strike ended when they brought in federal troops and the workers were pressured to quit by bureaucrats from the national unions, particularly the AFL. <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/generalstrike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#generalstrike</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/seattle" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#seattle</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/police" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#police</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/union" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#union</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/afl" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#afl</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IWW" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#IWW</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/wageslavery" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#wageslavery</a>

MikeDunnAuthorToday in Labor History February 2, 1938: Emma Tenayuca led a strike at the Southern Pecan-Shelling Company in San Antonio, Texas. The workers were fighting against low wages and inhumane working conditions. Tenayuca first became interested in activism before graduating from High School and was first arrested at age 16, in 1933, when she joined a picket line against the Finck Cigar Company. She later founded two international ladies' garment workers unions, and was involved in the Woman's League for Peace and Freedom. She also organized a protest in response to the beating of Mexican migrants by US Border Patrol. She was arrested several times for her participation in strikes and other activism. 12,000 women, mostly Mexicana and Chicana, participated in the Pecan-Shelling strike. Police clubbed, gassed, arrested and jailed the women. The strike ended in October, with an arbitrated raise to 25 cents per hour.<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#workingclass</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LaborHistory</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/chicano" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#chicano</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/union" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#union</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/strike" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#strike</a> # EmmaTenayuca <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/mexico" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mexico</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/wages" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#wages</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/women" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#women</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/feminist" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#feminist</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/prison" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#prison</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/police" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#police</a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/policebrutality" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#policebrutality</a>

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